Ride of the Three Bulldozers
Ride of the Three Bulldozers is a short story written by the Dozerfleet founder in 2009, based on a daydream from 2006. It takes place in the world of the three bulldozers in a "fleet" that are the inspiration behind both the name of Dozerfleet Productions and its stylized "D" symbol. Plot In a Slavic village somewhere, there was once peace. Then, a group of outsiders that did not share the locals' beliefs in a republic seized control and tried to turn the town into a socialist state. Many of the locals went along with the revolution, at least at first. An outspoken critic, local bird store owner Ivan Wilinski, was quickly run out of town. He managed to find an old underground bunker, with various instructions left behind from the previous tenant for his successor to take note of. Ivan took the literature he found in that bunker to heart. He utilized what he found in the bunker to better himself. He learned how to hunt - and shoot to defend himself. However, the regime that seized control became obsessed with finding him and killing him. He learned to utilize the forest not far from town as his ally, in an effort to make himself as much a nuisance to those who would attack his forest as possible. He established a set of spy cameras that he had acquired, and set up surveillance around his former town. He learned that the regime was becoming more and more oppressive, and things were turning ugly. He began to fume with anger, and then started networking with other outcasts to form a revolution of his own to take back the town. In time, a group of rebels got behind Ivan. They seized a construction vehicle warehouse, and began turning the vehicles into improvised tanks. A march on the ravaged town occurred one evening. In front of everything else of the rebel force entering town were three bulldozers. The Dozer Fleet not only cleared a path by ridding debris from blocking the revolution; it also became a symbol of defiance against the regime. After a night of blazing fires and war, the regime was overthrown. The townsfolk never saw Ivan again; but set up a statue immortalizing the three bulldozers that became Ivan's symbol for righting wrongs in the world. Development The story of Ivan's revolution first began shortly after the Dozerfleet founder grew frustrated with EZBoard and with Lansing Community College. Considering transferring to Ferris State, he also began to feel that the old Cormorant Entertainment brand name had been outgrown for the brand's purpose. The bird, and all it symbolized, had come to lose its meaning. A push began then to replace the bird symbol with something else. He remembered back to the year 1998, when then-classmate Kenny McCollar called him a "bulldozer" for the way he skated. The idea occurred to put that new identity, which seemed more appropriate for what the enterprise had become, to good use. In a daydream, the founder envisioned that the old Cormorant bird was minding his own business inside his pedestal. Then, someone came and hurled accusations against the bird. Not wasting any time, this was followed by the glass being smashed. The bird was yanked out, then burned alive. The other elements of the Cormorant Entertainment logo were then smashed to pieces. Three bulldozers arrived the following evening, surrounded on all sides by fire. They quickly swept away the remains. Revolutionaries popped out of them, and fought a bloody battle to avenge the bird. With the bird gone, the three bulldozers themselves became the new symbol. May of 2006 saw the main station for Cormorant Entertainment finally log out of that username for the last time. In its place, Dozerfleet Productions was officially the new brand name that took its place. The happy, cheery music that went with the Cormorant brand back in the day was speedily replaced with the Batman Begins soundtrack. The song "Molossus" in particular proved inspirational in how the new brand name's design philosophy would be framed. In 2008, a first attempt was made to write a fictional short story for the official Dozerfleet website that would capture the spirit of the rebranding. Ivan was originally known as "The Birdmaster, who became the Bulldozer." The idea arose later on to give the character an actual name: Ivan. In 2009 and 2010, the story would be slightly re-written to reflect that. Plans exist to eventually rewrite the entire story as a full-fledged novel. However, those plans have been shelved for the time being. In 2011, DozerfleetWiki moved from Wiki-Site.com to Wikia. Only a short time after the move over, the original server containing the Wiki-Site version went kaput, obliterating all trace of the old version. In 2012, it was decided that Ivan's last name would be "Wilinski." Ivan Wilinski's character design was highly inspired by that of the pirate Robert Mullins from Fox's Peter Pan and the Pirates. Ivan has a longer and thinner mustache, a slightly different hat, is smarter, and has a Slavic origin rather than a Brooklyn origin. Ivan also does not wear earrings, nor does he have a scar over his one eye. Ivan also lacks Mullins' ponytail. See also * Wilinski Forest Blog * Dozerfleet Productions * May 2006 archive External links * Wilinski Forest blog, featuring Ivan from Ride of the Three Bulldozers Category: Completed projects Category: Dozerfleet Literature Category: Projects from 2009